Day 85: Two More Kosher Lunch Options in Midtown Manhattan!

Exciting news on the NYC Kosher scene. My roommate, Tzip, tipped me off to a new lunch place called New York Lunchbox, on 36th between 7th and 8th. I went today, but they aren't open quite yet - it seems like the grand opening is in a week or two. It looks nice and the menu includes paninis, wraps, salads, sushi, a Hot Buffet (pay by the lb - includes pastas, fish, veges and a LunchBox Quiche - yum!!). They also list Creamy Butternut & Sweet Potato Soup as a DAILY option. I can't wait to try it! Since they weren't open yet, I walked a couple blocks north to the Vegetable Garden on 38th. The menu there is pretty much the same as all these other places - pizza, salads, sushi, wraps etc. I ordered a matzah ball soup and half of an egg salad wrap. The staff was VERY friendly and accommodating and made my wrap exactly like I wanted it (whole wheat, lettuce, cucumbers, pepper, no other veges). It was especially nice of them because they were stuck with the other half of my somewhat odd wrap, and had to hope someone would buy it. Maybe the staff eats those. I don't know. I went back to work and ate the soup first. It consisted of a clear liquid, with several cute looking mini matzah balls, and some tri-colored rigatoni pasta. The broth itself was pretty bland and sort of just tasted like pasta. Luckily I had salt and pepper packets at my desk to spice it up a bit. That made the soup much tastier. The matzah balls were OK but hard to cut into pieces with my plastic spoon. After I finished the soup, I ate my wrap. It tasted good and was very filling. I would definitely order a wrap from them again, but might skip the soup next time.

Have a tip about a new Kosher lunch place in Midtown Manhattan? Email me at rebeccalunch@gmail.com .

Day 64: I heart NY

Today, I fell in love with NYC. I took a day off from work and decided to go for a bike ride. I rented a bike near my apartment and rode over to the West Side Highway. I figured I would ride South until I got tired (or bored) and then take the subway back uptown to my apartment. Riding right on the river, I had an unabridged view of the Jersey skyline as I passed through beautiful parks and sports fields in Riverside park. I rode past my alma matter, Barnard, past Fairway, past some dog parks. I watched two helicopters take off no more than 20 feet away from me at the VIP heliport in the 30s. I saw lots of really interesting architecture and installation art. The ride had a constant change of scenery and feel, and showed off NYC in a way I have never seen it before. Before I knew it, I was in the financial district, and I was lost and hungry. I called my friend Shlomo B, who works in the area, to find out where I can get some food and the subway. He told me about Cafe 11, a small sushi and sandwich shop in his office building. So I headed over there and Shlomo watched my bike while I went inside to get some food. I ran into basically everyone I know who works downtown, including an old friend from HS, Yehudah, and our friend Josh R. Yehudah and Josh joined me for lunch in the small park across the street from the office building, right by Battery Park. I ate a whole wheat tuna fish wrap. It was pretty good and a very nice size considering a not super high price. We ate and hung out for a bit before I said goodbye to the boys, got back on my bike, and biked back up the 12ish miles to my apartment. The song that was stuck in my head the whole ride was the ever catchy Push It To The Limit.

Day 26: Picnic Lunch

We had a celebratory meeting at around lunchtime today in honor of my coworker Marisa being awesome. Afterwards, I went down to the basement with my coworker Jen to look for sandwiches in Penn Station. Upon checking out the Yummy selection, I had two choices – Caesar chicken wrap, or something called a Picnic chicken wrap (is that a real thing?). After a major fumble where I clumsily dropped the wraps and they slid back into the display case, I opted for the new and unknown – the Picnic chicken. The wrap consisted of little chicken pieces in a lemony sauce with onions and seasoning, with cabbage lettuce in a tomato paste flour tortilla wrap. After the first bite, I noticed right away that the chicken was very wet. And not in the good, moist, ‘this chicken is not dry’ kinda way. The wrap itself was not wet, but the chicken was almost soggy. And the flavor was mostly bland. The bites with onion were a bit tastier. Overall, I was not a fan of this wrap, but at least it was filling so I was not still hungry afterwards.